In January we realseased a new and exciting series of the material matters with Grant Gibson podcast which featured: Christien Meinsertsma, Florian Gadsby, Sara Grady & Alice Robinson, John Tuomey and Bas Van Abel.     

Christien Meinsertsma talks about experimenting with linoleum; her family’s history with wool; working with the city of Rotterdam to find ways to deal with its wool and working with a ‘wobot’.

Florian Gadsby  discusses being young to publish a memoir;going to a Steiner school; deciding against university; his apprenticeship in Japan; resisting the tag of the ‘Instagram potter’ and the pressures of social media.

Sara Grady & Alice Robinson talk about  how most leather is made; issues around the chrome tanning process; how British Pasture Leather is trying to make a difference; the state of the British tanning industry; redefining quality and embracing imperfection; how leather brought them together; buying a bullock and writing a book.

John Tuomey talks about  writing First Quarter during lockdown; growing up in rural Ireland; the storytelling aspect of architecture;  moving to Dublin and London; meeting Sheila at university; working for James Stirling; and the possibilities of a derelict site…

Bas Van Abel discusses not owning a mobile before he founded Fairphone; how smartphones are made and the global supply chain they require; the importance of repair and longevity; the immense stress starting the brand put him under; the company’s ‘shitty’ first phone and trying to change the system from within.